Thursday, March 10, 2011

Dear JP Morgan Chase,

Despite having an extremely bad experience during the transition from WAMU to Chase, we stuck with you. We gave you a chance. Mostly because all of our bills were set up as direct deposit and it was just a huge pain in the butt to switch everything over.But now? We're done. Justin and I plan to go open an account at a local credit union as soon as possible.

See, several months ago, you announced that checking accounts would no longer be free. A monthly service fee of $10 would be added to the account unless (a) a deposit of more than $500 was made each month (b) the checking account maintains a minimum daily balance of $1500, or (c) you have a daily balance of $5000 in linked deposits/investments.

Justin and I both dislike these plans immensely--it drives me crazy that those who are struggling to make ends meet and don't have a minimum balance of $1500 are penalized by a monthly fee while those who are rich pay nothing. However, we were told by two different employees at two different Chase branches in two different cities that since Justin is paid once a month and his paycheck is equivalent to more than $500, that we would not be subject to the monthly fee.

Except, as I've just discovered after noticing that we WERE charged a monthly fee last month, it must be a direct deposit of $500 or more.

The small business that Justin works for doesn't offer direct deposit. So, we will be changing banks. We're going to a local credit union. Where...*gasp* when you deposit a check, our funds are available that same day. Where there is no monthly service charge for being an average joe/jane. I am so irritated with you, JP Morgan Chase, because my experience with you has shown that unless a customer is rolling in the big bucks, you (as a whole) don't care about us at all. Do you realize that even your own employees are often seen grimacing and saying, "I'm so sorry...I don't agree with these new policies at all, but there's nothing I can do,"?

I know that you people up in the Upper Management at JP Morgan Chase, the ones who are making all the decisions, probably won't ever read this. I'm barely a blip on your radar screen. But someday? Someone might Google JP Morgan Chase and find their way to this blog post. I hope they do. I hope they're spared the hassle that banking with you has caused us.

9 comments:

That sucks. I hear great things about Credit Unions and how much more personal they are. We love Chase, I hadn't even heard about these new fees. Granted, our mortgage, former car loan and all of our personal banking is linked together through them, which I do remember being told removed fees from our accounts. We have a local branch that know B, me, Thomas and Casco by name (and they keep Casco treats in the teller booth). LOVE them.

OMG!!! You WON'T believe this. I just went to a Chase bank to pay off our auto loan [for the car we bought last week] and I was suckered into setting up a meeting with them next week to discuss refinancing our mortgage and getting a new checking account. No joke...this just happened minutes ago. After reading this I'm second guessing everything. Maybe I need to cancel our appointment and stick to our smaller, local bank!!

You're going to love your local Credit Union! It's all I have ever been with since moving stateside. I wouldn't even know where to begin as to why I love mine! It really makes everything so much easier. No fees, no hassles, you're federally insured, better rates, you help your community out, small business, online banking is a cinch, and they really do all they can for me.

As soon as we're more settled, around summer, we're planning to move to a credit union too. I just can't stand the upselling and distrust I feel every time I go to the bank. I'm super excited to get out of there.